Who out of you guys offer finance!

[Richard_Fl]

Hi,

My name Richard and I'm new to the forum so hi everyone.

I really want to offer finance to customers when I go out to quote work as I think it could give me a higher conversion rate.

Do any of you guys offer finance at the moment and if so who with?

Also do you think it's a good avenue to go down and have any of you tried it or also looking into offering finance?

Im thinking there must be away to offer finance in line with the savings that can be made against energy efficiency installs and have a really smart sell to customers.

thank you for reading ?

 

[snowhead]

Have you checked whether what you are proposing needs you to be registered with the FCA?

 

[Richard_Fl]

Have you checked whether what you are proposing needs you to be registered with the FCA?

I have been having a look around and yes usual for finance you do need to be FCA approved and I have had a look into it and it would cost about £400 to do so might be worth a go. Also I have seen somewhere one that lets you offer finance through them off the back of you quote put through there site so they would offer the finance to the customer so no FCA required my end but for the life of me I can't remember what it was called.

 

[Vortigern]

I can offer finance through Trustmark. It is part of the enhanced business portal they do. That is the Trading standards approved version not the add on trustmark with the schemes

 

[Richard_Fl]

I can offer finance through Trustmark. It is part of the enhanced business portal they do. That is the Trading standards approved version not the add on trustmark with the schemes

Thanks for the reply. Did you have to do any FCA approval or do trust mark offer the finance on your behalf so FCA isn't required. Also do you have to do anything specific to become trading standards approved with them?

cheers

 

[Vortigern]

I am not approved for loans but covered by/through trustmark. To get in a hefty annual fee and in depth analysis of your trading history and CRB check. Also being a member of a CPS scheme is a pre requisite..

 

[Gavin John Hyde]

never considered it myself. do know of a heating engineer who offers finance though for new boilers and heating systems. not sure if he is fca registered or not.

 

[James]

If a customer is worthy of finance, they will be able to get a loan or credit card to cover the work.
these people know lots about them and can make an informed decision as to weather to offer credit or not.

if you start offering customers weekly or monthly payments for goods you have supplied or work you have done, unless you have done proper affordability and credit checks on them, you will be on the highway to pain.

just think the losses you take on one customer doing a runner and being an un recoverable debt, will wipe out the profit you make on the last 20 jobs that are being paid on tick, and you still haven't got the money for the last 20 because they are giving you £50 per week for the next 6 months.

It sounds like a lot of paperwork and customer chasing to me.

 

[pirate]

Do not do it!
Certainly, offering finance yourself is a nightmare to be avoided at all costs, because if you get the paperwork wrong the penalties are huge and you won't get paid either.
getting a third party to step in makes you an introducer...avoid this too!
As James said, let the customer arrange the finance he/she needs. You have to do the job, collect your money in full, and walk away. No job is worth it if you are waiting, chasing, chasing...your profit margin disappears rapidly, and you are left out of pocket.
Also, if you are chasing a customer who isn't paying on time, they are the very ones who will bad-mouth you on social media just to bully you into letting go.
No! Don't do it. if the customer can't afford the work from his/her own sources, there is a good reason for this, and you should not take on their risk.
Stand out on customer service, not on lending them money! The labourer is worthy of his hire, and should be paid promptly.

 

[Andy78]

Would I offer finance to customers myself ? Not a chance.

Would I team up with a third party company to offer finance to my customers ? If they can afford and want finance surely they can arrange their own.

Do I want to do work for customers who can't afford it ? Not really.

 

[littlespark]

How will you pay for all the materials used?
You might get 90 days with a wholesaler, but not see any of the money for several months after. Even paying your bills by credit card, giving you another month..... you’ll be well out of pocket for some time.

 

[Richard_Fl]

Do not do it!
Certainly, offering finance yourself is a nightmare to be avoided at all costs, because if you get the paperwork wrong the penalties are huge and you won't get paid either.
getting a third party to step in makes you an introducer...avoid this too!
As James said, let the customer arrange the finance he/she needs. You have to do the job, collect your money in full, and walk away. No job is worth it if you are waiting, chasing, chasing...your profit margin disappears rapidly, and you are left out of pocket.
Also, if you are chasing a customer who isn't paying on time, they are the very ones who will bad-mouth you on social media just to bully you into letting go.
No! Don't do it. if the customer can't afford the work from his/her own sources, there is a good reason for this, and you should not take on their risk.
Stand out on customer service, not on lending them money! The labourer is worthy of his hire, and should be paid promptly.

cheers for the reply

I was thinking the way the finance would work is me pass the details onto a finance broker and they would facilitate the finance with the customer, leaving me to do no more paperwork than formulate my usual quotation. Also the finance company would surely pay out to myself in full as they make the money on the interest from the finance of the customer.

If I am presuming correctly surely that's a safer way to do business as the risk of non payment is with the finance company and not myself.
[automerge]1583496457[/automerge]

How will you pay for all the materials used?
You might get 90 days with a wholesaler, but not see any of the money for several months after. Even paying your bills by credit card, giving you another month..... you’ll be well out of pocket for some time.

I see what you are saying but I was thinking the finance company will pay the amount to myself in full on completion and then I can pay the materials. Surely the finance company won't pay out in instalments.

 

[richy3333]

Well its often used by plumbers/heating engineers so there must be an avenue for doing this. You might be better off asking on a wet pants forum!